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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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PRODROMI 

OR * 



DISCOVERIES IN THE BACON 

> 

CIPHER PROBLEM. 



BY 



W. F. C. WiGSTON 




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PREFACE. 



n^HIS little pamphlet is only a forerunner, published for 
the sake of protecting and guarding my claim, to cer- 
tain cipher discoveries in the Bacon-Shakespeare author- 
ship problem, which discoveries are running the risk of 
becoming prematurely promulgated and pirated, owing to 
delays in printing a work, which will shortly be placed 
before the public. The fac-simile impressions of the pages 
on wnich the cipher congruities adduced anpear, will be 
duly given in the said work. As the time is fast approach- 
ing, when this cipher problem, will assume importance and 
reality in the public mind, I take this precaution of estab- 
lishing my lawful claim to the said discoveries, which, 
though they may appear light and trifling, and open to 
criticism at this moment, will be fonnd hereafter to hold 
important issues and connections with the proofs as to the 
real authorship of the plays attributed to Shakespeare. 
Th^ dangers of printing these matters are manifest ; and 
in proportion to their simplicity and directness is the risk 
of losing them by the delays inseparable from publishing a 
large body of matter. This pamphlet makes, therefore, 
no pretense whatever to literary style, completeness, or 
even clear comprehensiveness. It is merely self-jyrotective, 
and its value can only be understood by myself. 

The evidence I am about to adduce is derived from a 
quotation from the poet, Horace, applied by Ben Jonson 



to Bacon's -DeAugmentis Scientiarum, which latter 
was published 1623, the same year as the first collected 
edition of the plays, known as the 1623 folio Shakespeare. 
The Latin quotation applied to the ^'De Augmentis'' 
IS borrowed from Horace's Arte Poetica, and is found ■i'n 
direct context with the invention of the art of play •toriting ^ 
But, first, let me give Ben Jonson's words : '- Witness the 
''case of Julius Ccesar, who, in the heat of the civil war 
'' writ his book of Analogy and dedicated them to Tullv' 
'' This made the late Lord S'Albans entitle his work 
^'; Novum Organic, which, though by the most of super- 
^^ fic.al men, who can not get beyond the title of Nominals 
U IS not penetrated nov understood, it reallv openeth all 
detects of Learniug whatsoever, and is a Book.'' 
Qui longum nolo scriptori porrfget fevum. 

(Discoveries, p. 102 1641 ) 
In the margin we read, "De Augments Scientiarumr 
and agamst the citation, ^' Horat: Be Arte Poetica.- No4 
very curiously, in the same volume of Ben Jonson's works^ 
I find a translation by him of this, - De Arte Poetica - 
by^Horace-the Latin on one side, the translation on the 

Ficta. voluptatis cau>a, sint proxima veris 
Nee quodcuQque, volet; poscat sibi fabula credi • 
Neu praas* Lamle vivum puerum extrahat alvo 
Centuriae seniorem agitant expertia frugis • 
Celsi praetereunt austera poemata Rhamues 
Omne tulit punctum, qui raiscult utile dulci 
Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo ' 
JJic meret r,ra liber Sosiis; hie et mare transit 
M lonfium mto scriptoii porric/et mum. 

(Printed 1640.) 

The last line is the one Quoted Kv w^.. t 



was translated into English for the first time in 1640 by 
Gilbert Wats; therefore, appears the same year as this 
poem (quoted from)by Jonson. — Ben Jonson's translation is 
thus: 

Let what thou feign'st for pleasures sake, be near 

The truth; nor let th\- fable think what e're 

It would, must be: lest it alive would draw 

The child, when Lamia has dined, out of her maw. 

The poems void of profit, our grave men 

CdSt out by voices; want they pleasure, then 

Our gallants give them none, but pass them by; 

But he hath every suffrage can apply 

iSvvtet mixed with sour, to his reader, so 

As ducirine and delight together go. 

This book will gkt the 8os[i money; this 

Will pass the seas, and long as nature is, 

With honor make, the far known author live. 

(p. 23. Horace of the Art of Poeiic, 1640). 

Ail this is a description, by Horace, of Dramatical 

AND Poetical composition, its laws, with directions for 

success. Horace introduces Orpheus, Amphion, Homer, 

TyrtcBiis. — 

Ludusque reperlus 
£t longorum operum finis, ne forteC pudori 
Sit tibi Musa lyrse solers, tt cantor Apollo. 
Ben Johnson^s translation: 

Plays were found out; and rest the end and crown 
Of their iouij; labours was in verse set down. 
All which I tell, lest when Apollo's named. 
Or muse upon the Lyre, thou chance be ashamed. 

(p. 23.) 
The fourth line from the last introduces the passage 
already quoted: 

Ficta voluptatis causti, siut proxima veris. 

Now the reader will perceive how extraordinarily 

apposite these lines are to describe the De Augmentis, 

which Bacon compares to a ship sailing through time, an 

emblem he borrowed from the discovery of the New World 



to illustrate his '' New imrld of Sciences," which the De 
Augmentis is to open up: 

This (book) 
Will pass the seas, and long as nature is, 
With honour make the far known Author lice. 
But this single parallel is not all; for in context 
with Orpheus (who Bacon introduces as ''Orpheus 
Theatre '\ page 49 De Augmentis, translated by Wats 
1640), I lind a few lines preceding, and leading to 
those already cited, the following, which is an exact 
description of the sort of Acroamatical or parabolical 
STYLE in which the De Augmentis is written: 
. Silvtistres homines sacer, iiiterpresque Deorum, 
Caedibus et victu faedo deterruit Orpheus, 
Diclus ob hoc leiiire tigres, lapidosque leoces. 
Dictus et Amphion Thebanae conditor arcis 
Saxo movere sono tesludinis, et prece blanda 
Ducere quo vellet. Fuit hcee sapientia quondam, 
Publica priTatis secernere, sacra profanis, 
Concubitu proJtibere vago. 
Here is Bacon^s favorite Orpheus, and just that enigmat- 
ical and veiled parabolical style described, which Bacon 
introduces in context with Dramatical Poetry, ^2^ge?, 107, 
108 of this same De Augjnentis (which he describes as 
*' flying too high over men's heads from the obscurity 
of the style by which was to select its reader)." Ben Jon- 
son's translation of the lines I have placed in Italics runs: 
This was the wisdom that they had of old. 
Things sacred, from prof ane to separate; 
The public from the private to abate. 

(p. 23H.) 
Compare: ** There is another use of Parabolical Poesy,'' 
** opposite to the former, which tendeth to the folding up " 
*' of those things the dignity whereof, deserves to be retired " 
" and distinguished, as with a drawn curtain. That '' 
'Ms when the secrets and mysteries of Religion, Policy," 

4 



*^and Philosophy are veiled and invested with fables and'' 
" parables." (P. 108, Adv. of Learning, 1640.) This is in 
context and follows out of Bacon's description of Dramat- 
ICALA Kepresentative Poesy, tipon the previous page 107. 
And to show what Bacon means upon this same page, he in- 
troduces with an asterisk his "■ Wisdom of the Ancients,'^ as 
a Deficient of his " New World of Sciences.'' (Sapie^itia 
Veteriim 6ih star or asterisk of ^1 ]\eiv World of Sciences, 
or the Deficients. Catalogue at end of Advancement, 1640.) 

The hint Bacon gives ns for the theatre and its drawn 
curtaifi, is one of those felicitous touches, which, like one 
of the titles of the Advancement, Bacon applies to it, viz., 
the Intellectual Globe, recalls the Globe Theatre itseU, where 
the immortal pieces ascribed to Shakespeare were acted. 

If tlie render will count the italic words upon page J 02 of 
Ben Jonson's Timber or Discoveries (1641, first edition), 
he will find the word (applied to Bacon, ''mark," and 
acme of our language") Mark is the 1:16th word in order, 
couniing from the top of the page. There are 36 plays in 
the 1623 folio. If the count is continued, it is remarkable 
to find the fircit word of the Latin quotation from Horace's 
''Art of Poetry/' is the 52d or 53d word in italics, according 
as wecount the word ''Commonwealtlt " asasingle hyphen- 
ated. word, or as two woids. The words in italics are: 
Cicero, Rome, Empire, Ingenium par imperio, Seculum, 
Sir Thomas More, Wiat, Henry, Surrey, Chaloner, Smith, 
Cliot, Gardiner, Nico Bacon, Elizabeths, Philip Sidney, 
Hooker, Essex, Walter Rawleigh, Henry Savile, Ediui^i 
Sandes, Egerton, Successor, Greece, Rome, Eloquence, 
Marke, I have, State, Commonwealth, Seminaries, Repub- 
lick, Advancement, Julius Ccesar, Analogic, Tully,Albane, 
Xovum Organum, Nominals, Qui longtim tioto scriptori 

5 



porriget Mvum. I refer the reader to the reproduced page 
in my forthcoming work. If the reader will kindly cheek 
and number these words in succession he will find I am 
correct in my numbers, and that the line cited from 
Horace carries Shakespeare's age 1616 — that is, 52 and 53. 
If the italicized words in the marginal notes, entitled 
Scriptorium. Catalogus, are likewise counted down, it is 
curious to again find the number 36 brings us to Francis 
(Bacon). If in the same marginal text we count all the 
words together (initials also), we find Sir (Francis Bacon) 
the 53d word. If these coincidences stood alone they might 
be attributed to accident, but there are such a number of 
them elsewhere, it is impossible to escape conviction all this 
is part of a profound system of cypher by means of mathe- 
matics. 

I particularly desire to draw the student's attention to 
column 106 of the Comedies, whereon we find the line (p. 
53, Merry Wives of Windsor): 

Hang-Hog is Latia for Bacon I warrant }0u. 

The reader will perceive this word Hang- Hog is hyphen- 
ated, and therefore it n)ay be counted as one or two words. 
The column paging is very important in this cypher, and 
it stands to reason the columns must not only be correctly 
numb, red, but are real factors in the problem. The fact 
Shakespeare died in 1616 in his fifty- third year, as recorded 
on the Stratford monument (erected whilst his widow and 
family were alive), and that we refind the word Bacon not 
only on this page, but also twice on page 52 of 1st 
K. H. IV. (which page is mispaged 54 from false 49, two 
in advance of the real number), is a re-indorsement of 
the theory I hold of the p07'trait standing in the frame by 
mathematics, Bacon being brought in as a word on these 
pages, 52, 53. Now, if the reader will carefully count the 



words both down and up this column 106, he will find the 
line quoted is as follows: 



Down column 


f Hang 263. 


6r ^ 


263. 


r 100. 


' oo (up column. 
• ^^ 106) 


106, 


Ho^ 264. 


( 


99. 


p. 53M. W. W. 


is 265. 




264. 


98. 






Latin 266. 




265. 


97. 






for 267. 




266. -{ 


96. 






Bicoa 268. 




267. 


95. 






I 269. 




268. 


94. 






warrant 270. 




269. 


93. 




, 


you. 271. 




270. 


I 92. 





Amongst the chief verses dedicated to the author of the 
plays, one stands pre eminent, written by Ben Johnson 
(which already has claimed attention from Mr. Donnelly's 
pen), and is to be found at the commencement of the 1623 
Folio Plays. If the student will turn to this poem, com- 
mencing: 

To draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name. 

Am I thus ample to thy Booke and Faint, 
While 1 confesse thy writings to he such. 
As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much, 

he will find on the 32d line these words: 

I iDould not seek 
For names — 
If the reader will carefully count every word in suc- 
cession, from the commencement of the poem, down to 
these words he will find the words, ** Seek for na7nes,'' the 
2b6th. 267th, 268th, or 267lh, 268Lh, 269th, according as 
we count 'out-shine," as a single word or two words. If 
the reader will now count the words upon page 53, Merry 
Wives of Windsor, column L06, he will find the words: 

Bacon I IV arrant 
the 267th, 268th, 269th, likevihe doiv n the cohmin, counted 
from the top, "Hang-Hog'' being treated as a single word. 
As the critic may object to any arbitrary treatment of 
hyphenated words, of which there is a single example in 
each collated passage, I will give the alterative counts in 



each case, viz., covmt'mg ''ffrntg- Hog" as one, and then 
as two words, and also counting outshine as one, and then 
as two words. The reader will perceive, no matter how 
we collate the poem with page 53, col. 106, M, W. W., tlie 
suspicious words, " Seek for 7ia?nes" falls into congrujty 
with and against the word, "Bacon!" 



Hang-Hog treated 
as a siugle word, 



Hang Hog treated 
as two words, 



For 266 

Bacon 267 

1 268 

For 267 

Bacon 268 

I 269 



Out-shine as 
single word, 



OiU-sliine as 
two words, 



Seek 266 

for 267 

names, ^108 

Seek 267 

for 268 

names, 269 



If we count a hyhenated word in one case as a single 
word, it is only rational we do likewise in the other case. 
But even if we outrage this rule and try the cipher col- 
lusion by the next possible count, of treating ''Hang- Hog" 
out-shine" as two words, we get the 



as one word, and 
same result: 



Hang-Hog, 
one word, 



Hang- Hog, 
two words, 



Bacon 267 

I 268 

warrant, 269 



For 
Bicon 



267 

268 



Out-fihine, 
tv\o words. 



Out shine, 
one Word, 



Se( k 267 

for 5i68 

names, 269 

For 267 
names. 268 



The imparcial critic will do me the justice to allow I have 
evaded no difficulty, or possible collating of the figures, 
which may be hostile to my discovery. The only four 
possible alternative counts and collusions by congruity of 
cipher counts, have been exhausted, with always the same 
result, that tiie works, "seek for iiames" agiee with the 
words " Bacon I luarrant," or hold an apparent answer 
to the implied query, by the words " For Bacon"--\t may 
be observed Ben Jonson writes, "I would not seek for 
names " and then praises Shakespeare solely as an actor! 



f 



Extraordinary as this cipher congruity of figures is, I am 
quite ready to confess if it stood alone it might be open to 
criticism to declare it mere coincidence. But it does not 
stand singly or unsupported by other evidence, all tending 
to show page 53, col. 106 of the Merry Wives of Windsor, 
is a great cipher text page, or Philosophical Grammar, to 
which this cipher problem of the authorship of the plays 
is to be tested and referred to. 

For example in one of the prefaces to this same folio 
Plays, first edition 1623, is an address by John Heminge 
and Henry Condell (the publishers),'' To the Great Variety 
of Readers,'" which I shall also reproduce in fac-simile. 
The second paragraph opens, '' It had been a thing, we 
'• covTfcirS, worthy to have been wished, that the author 
''HIMSELF had lived to have set forth his oivn ivriti7igs.'' 
This is the only entry of the word author in this preface. 
If the I'eader will count the words up, from the bottom of 
the page, he will find " al^thor'' the 267th word, agreeing 
with the word '• Baco7i" 267 {Hang- Hog counted as one 
word), page 53^ col. 106 Merry Wives of Windsor. It may 
be observed there are no hyphenated double, or ambiguous 
words in this count. It is open to the critic to include the 
names of John Heminge and Henry Condell in the count 
if he likes, but 1 think this is hardly legitimate? 

If we now collate again with page 53, col. 106 Merry Wives of 
Windsor, we get: 

P. 53M.W.W. ( S Author, 267. Up the page. 

Hang Hog. - Bacon 267. '{ himself 266. 

{One word). ( For 266. 

P. 53M.W.W. ( Bacon 268. j the 268. Up the page. 

Hang Hog. \ For 267. \ Author 267. 

( I wo wordis). { 

If we include the four words of the names of John 
Heminge and Henry Condell in the count, we get this 



extraordinary result; a cipher statement, that Bacon had 

lived to set forth and oversee his own writings: 

P. 53M.W.W. ( I 269. Preface Uiad 269. (counted up). 

liany Hog. \ Bacon 268. Folio 1623 '{ lived 268. (counted up). 



( Two words). 

{ You 270. f himself 270. 

Hang Hog. j Warrant 269. ) had 269. 

as one word.) ] I 2(i8. j lived 268. 

t Bacon 267. [ to 267. 

If we read the last collated passage in sequence, up, from 
left to right down, we get part of a complete sentence, 
Bacon / luarrant yon, himself had lived to (set forth and 
oversee his own writing?) The reader will see this is a 
second endorsement of my theory, that page 53 M. W. of 
W. col. 106, is a table of cipher reference. 



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